UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM
The Politicization of Social
Media, and its Role as a
Democratic Tool in the
Middle East
Master’s Thesis: Television and Cross-Media
Cultures
Nicola Khoury - 10649700 6/25/2014
Table of Contents
Introduction
page 2
Chapter I – Mobilization
page 6
o 1.1 Internet Availability
page 8
o 1.2 Social Media as a Revolutionary Catalyst
page 10
o 1.3 Politics and Media
page 16
o 1.4 The World as a Networked Community
page 19
Conclusion 1
page 21
Chapter II – Citizen Journalism and the Media Landscape
page 23
o 2.0 Traditional Journalism vs Citizen journalism
page 23
o 2.1 Citizen Journalism Introduced
page 25
o 2.2 Citizen Journalism and Mass Media
page 26
o 2.3 Sourcing
page 35
o Moving Forward
page 42
Conclusion 2
page 43
Social Media and the Government Now
page 44
Investigating Twitter Interactions During the Arab Spring
page 47
Introduction
Over the years, the role and definition of social media has changed in society. What was first
considered as simply a communicational tool to stay in contact with friends, family, and acquaintances
has rapidly transformed into a multi-purpose web of networks. Nowadays, social media can be
considered a promising platform in the outing of opinions. Therefore, especially in the events leading
up to the so coined “Arab Spring”, social media has been seen as one of the most vital tools for democratization in our modern days. Democratization being a social mobilization towards gaining
more freedoms especially the freedom of speech, more social freedom, as well as more power in the
changing of the regimes decisions (a move towards a democratic government in which the masses
have a say).
The vast amounts of people and organizations who all have accounts on these websites
coupled with the diversity and interconnectivity of the online communities led to vast possibilities for
this new medium. Moreover, the internet adds an extra responsibility on the political agendas of the
politicians. Governmental transparency is higher and the information shared by official governmental
pages on social media seems more sensitive. The power has been put into the hands of the public again
to have a say in media and the governing bodies through action, people can provide “real” footage for
others to see and share on social media pages, which gives them a sense of higher objectivity on
situations than those provided by traditional journalists who are critiqued for having “alternate
motives” (such as money or following a certain political standpoint) for publishing their stories. A second theme which emerged is citizen journalism. Citizens can now quickly make a video
and share it while giving live updates on their Twitter pages by micro-blogging. “Micro-blogging has
been defined as a new media technology that enables and extends our ability communicate, sharing
than 200 characters) to friends and followers from
multiple sources including websites, third-party
applications, or mobile devices” (DeVoe, 2009)” (Hermida, 2009, p.2). This phenomenon of
micro-blogging has added a unique touch of “liveness” to
news content these days that news stations even incorporate this content in their reports leading to the
outreach to people being maximal.
When discussing the power of the internet in the push towards political change Google
Marketing Executive Wael Ghonim stated explicitly about the Egyptian revolution “This revolution
started . . . in June 2010 when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians started collaborating content," he
told CNN on Feb. 11. "We would post a video on Facebook that would be shared by 60,000 people on
their walls within a few hours. I've always said that if you want to liberate a society, just give them the
Internet” (Ghannam, 2011, p.1). But this notion now of course potentially applies to every similar situation in the future. However, to be able to analyze the political and journalistic significance of
social media and the external factors that went alongside its success, it is important to first investigate
the mechanisms of social media, and how it has the ability to connect people and mobilize activist
groups.
In this paper, an investigation will be done regarding the development of social media and new
media technologies in the political and journalistic sphere. The aspects that will be investigated are
social media as a mobilizing tool and the evolution of journalism through the inclusion of citizen
journalism as a serious option. Based on a sampling of previous literature on the subjects, the various
factors that led up to the revolution are analyzed. This includes the critiques on the alleged power of
social media in leading to this social change and a certain degree of democratization in countries with
authoritarian regimes, and an analysis on the external factors that were coupled with the application of
web 2.0 technologies that led to the success of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions as opposed to
previous ones that were not carried out with the help of new media technologies. This paper will
“If you want to liberate a
society, just give them the
Internet” – (Ghannam, 2011).
attempt to answer the question; Which factors went hand-in-hand with the appropriate involvement of
social media and web 2.0 technologies in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions in order to create
social change, as opposed to previous failed attempts?
Firstly “New communication technologies—especially social media via the Internet— have become important resources for the mobilization of
collective action and the subsequent creation,
organization, and implementation of social
movements around the world. The development of
social media created opportunities for Web-fueled
social movements, or cyberactivism, to change the landscape of collective action (Eltantawi & Wiest,
2011, p. 1207). Especially in the revolutions leading up to the Arab spring it was becoming evident
that directing the power of the complex networks of people on social media and web 2.0 technologies
in general could be very effective in the grouping of people with similar interests not only virtually but
also physically. “A major advantage of social media in the Egyptian revolution was its capacity for swiftly exchanging and disseminating information to millions of people inside and outside of Egypt.
For instance, as Egyptians were carefully watching events unfold in Tunisia while also planning their
own movement, activists from both countries were exchanging information, ideas, and words of
encouragement online. (Eltantawi & Wiest, 2011, p. 1214).
“In Jay Rosen’s famous formulation, citizen journalism is fuelled by ‘the people formerly known as the audience’ (2006) who now actively engage in the journalistic process themselves” (Bruns, 2008, p. 2). With such high accessibility to open-source information online nowadays, and the
use of social media as a journalistic tool, citizens have access to raw materials that are unprocessed
and untouched by the ‘gatekeepers’ of mainstream media. Gatekeeping is defined as “the process through which journalists filter vast quantities of information to distill a narrow set of news reports for
a given day (Shoemaker, 1991)” (Hermida, Lewis, and Zamith, 2013, p. 5). Additionally, citizen
journalism is assumed to be “pure” in the sense that it contains representative information with the
“Gatekeeping is defined as “the
process through which journalists
filter vast quantities of information
to distill a narrow set of news
reports for a given day”
majority of opinions on the truth of the events and is therefore sometimes considered to be more
objective than traditional journalism where a clearer hierarchy exists and the news organizations can
be fueled by alternate motives (financial, political, religious …etc.). This participatory style of journalism seems to have become a turning point in reporting nowadays. The question remains what
this style of journalism can change potentially in the framework of traditional journalism, in other
words, how they have to adapt to the evolution of citizen journalism.
The increased incorporation of web 2.0 technologies and their quick development, as well as
their multipurpose functions have certainly become a point of concern. Officials have to stay updated
as much as possible on the possibilities presented by the web and namely the mobilization of activist
groups and the masses. “Prior to 1990, most media ownership in the Arab world lay with
governments, and most media functioned under strict governmental supervision and control. A number
of authors (Abdel Rahman, 1985, 2002; Boyd, 1999; Mellor, 2007; Rugh, 2004) argued that in this era
Arab media were mostly controlled by governments mainly to keep lay people uninformed, and thus
incapable of effectively participating in political controversies and rational debates” (Khamis &
Vaughn, 2011, p. 2). It is therefore often suggested to mainstream media organizations to either
cooperate with citizen journalists or incorporate citizen journalism into their news production rather
than seeing them as competition. “Stories of conflict between ‘citizens’ and ‘professionals’, though sometimes entertaining, generally tend to be unproductive; they obscure the fact that mutually
beneficial cooperation between the two sides is possible, and beginning to take place, and keep us
from exploring those opportunities” (Bruns, 2008, p. 1).
A possible concern in the Middle East could be the control on mass media. Another chapter
will be dedicated to analyzing what influence the ease of access to information (equally the access to
the “truth” by the west) could have on the Middle Eastern people and the viability of mainstream media in the region. It could be argued that the fact that social media activist groups are controlled by
a limited number of individuals and are therefore easier to control than an entire group. “The shift from an era of broadcast mass media to one of networked digital media has altered both information
“Activists are people and
organizations that work to promote
social or political changes, and the
internet is one of many outlets for
their work.”
flows and the nature of news work. Mainstream media (MSM) outlets have adopted Twitter as a
means of engaging with and enlarging audiences.” (Lotan et al, 2011, p. 1376).
“The relationship between social media and the press has become increasingly complex, as self-described non-professional journalists, using tools like Twitter, begin to influence and
co-construct the kind of news traditionally produced by mainstream broadcasters. This has prompted
scholars to question whether Twitter is a social media service or a news medium (Kwak, Lee, Park, &
Moon, 2010)” (Lotan et al, 2011, p. 1379). The fact that Twitter is being taken so seriously has led
scholars to consider social media in general as a useful tool in the process of democratization in the
Middle East, despite many dismissing these claims as overstatements there is no doubt that new media
technologies have changed the sphere of politics and journalism. Citizens are given various platforms
to voice their opinions, and engagement with media organizations has never been as prominent. The
purpose of this investigation is to discover how the use of social media has changed in order for it to
be appropriated as a democratic tool.
CHAPTER I - Mobilization
When looking at the complexities and many factors involved in the development of social
media as a democratic tool in the Arab Spring one of the many terms that come up quite frequently is
“mobilization”. Social media can be used to mobilize people for a certain cause “without having to expose themselves to the risks and costs formerly
associated with activism, in response, governments
and institutions can do little to effectively stop it” (Mayfield, 2011, p. 79). This power of mobilization
has also been seen in the Arab Spring where it
seems as though the Arab leaders did not see the “social media revolution” coming, at least not with the intensity with which it occurred. “Activists are people and organizations that work to promote
social or political changes, and the internet is one of many outlets for their work. As summarized by
the now cliché mantra “the internet makes everyone a publisher”, the internet has lowered the barriers to content-creation and content dissemination. Modern web technology lowers the barriers to civic
engagement through technologies like listservs, social networking tools, and website creation (Kutner,
2000)” (Jones, 2013, p.1).
The core of these revolutions lies in the mobilization of activist groups uniting together for the
same cause. Eltantawi and Wiest state that “New communication technologies—especially social media via the Internet— have become important resources for the mobilization of collective action and
the subsequent creation, organization, and implementation of social movements around the world. The
development of social media created opportunities for Web-fueled social movements, or
cyberactivism, to change the landscape of collective action. Cyberactivism is a growing field of
scholarly inquiry, though it is not yet well understood, and it is largely lacking a clear, cohesive
direction” (Eltantawi & Wiest, 2011, p. 1). When it comes to mobilization and the effectiveness of
social media in doing so there are opposing claims regarding the Arab Spring. Certain figures such as
Google marketing executive Wael Ghonim are optimistic and describe the power of social media by
stating that “when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians started collaborating content," he told CNN on Feb. 11. "We would post a video on Facebook that would be shared by 60,000 people on their walls
within a few hours. I've always said that if you want to liberate a society, just give them the Internet”
(Ghannam, 2011, p.1).
Others are very skeptical and claim that social media and new media in general only played a
menial role in the mobilization of the population and activist groups to protest. Ekaterina Stepanova
argues that “The mobilizing effect of new information and social media networks as catalysts of broad
sociopolitical protest will vary significantly from region to region and from one political context to
another. The presence of multiple underlying causes for sociopolitical protest will not suffice for new
Numerous factors have led to the demise of the powers of the ruling elites in their ability to
control the revolution in this modern form. Mainly because it was done in such a stealthy way, and the
internet’s broad capacities made it almost impossible to predict what is going to happen next. In the following chapter the factors that went into the mobilization of citizens and activist groups will be
analyzed. The skeptics already laid out their concerns with the claims that social media was used in
order to create social change, based on these critiques, the following aspects were deduced as those
which went hand-in-hand with social media in the revolution, to prove that social media certainly was
not directly the cause of the success of these revolutions but the major catalyst due to its use in relation
to these factors. And as a collective, they formed a “successful revolution”. This chapter will attempt to answer the question “which new and preexisting tools were complemented by social media in order to make the Arab Spring revolutions more successful?”
1.1 Internet Availability:
One of the arguments that appear rather frequently in the critics of the importance of social
media in the mobilizing process in the Arab Spring revolutions states “For one, Internet access must be available to significant segments of the population” (Stepanova, 2011, p.3). There are just claims
that state that the lack of internet access or the fact that such a small segment of the population has
access to the internet or has a social media account diminishes the credit given to social media in the
creation of social change. The direct influence of social media in the revolutions is decreased due to it
(social media) not being widespread enough.
One critique also includes a statement about the term “slacktivism” playing on the words
“slack” and “activism” where Christopher Jones writes ““slacktivism” describes the replacement of effective real-world activism with ineffective online activism (Christensen, 2011). Although online
civic activity is prolific, its impacts are disputed. Borge, Cardenal, and Malipica concluded that
least one online political activity” (2012). While some (such as those that support the “Kony 2012” campaign) claim that these trends have effectively mobilized advocates of social change, others note
that online social and political activity often fails to achieve real-world change (Conroy et al, 2012).
However, the fact that there is such an emphasis placed on social media when discussing the Arab
Spring begs for an investigation into this phenomenon” (Jones, 2013, p.2).
Despite the fact that the internet is not accessible to the whole population, which is another
critique given to soften the role of social media in the Arab revolutions, the numbers which were
revealed by the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) certainly
imply a significance of the internet in the political sphere regardless of that claim. “According to the
Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the country has over 17
million Internet users (as of February 2010), a stark 3,691 percent increase from 450,000 users in
December 2000, and 4 million Facebook users. This total includes over 160,000 bloggers, with 30
percent of blogs focusing on politics” (Stepanova, 2011, p. 2).
It comes as no surprise that social media has the ability to group people together, it has been
used effectively as a marketing tool, and the essence of this power lays in the interconnectivity of
these vast networks of people. The ease of access to profiles and groups, as well as the ease of
engagement with others gives a stronger voice to the public as well as a greater variation of those
voices. “As the communications landscape gets denser, more complex, and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public
speech, and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action” (Shirky, 2011, p. 2). Although not
everybody has access to the internet, even less so in the non-western world in general, the impact that
it has had so far is significant. Stepanova states that in Egypt “The fact that the crisis occurred sooner rather than later, in direct follow-up to protests in Tunisia, was largely due to the initial mobilizing
effects of ICT and social media networks. The protests were kickstarted by a Facebook campaign run
by the opposition “April 6 Youth Movement,” which generated tens of thousands of positive responses
It still seems as though the limitations on the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech
in the Middle East threaten the influence of social media on mobilization in the realm of activism.The
claims of social media being the main reason for these successful protests could be driven by western
ideals, by people who want to believe that these claims are true. Yet the reality of the matter could be
far from these claims. The fact that social media has such a widespread effect might just show that it is
not the lack of availability of the internet which is the problem seeing as that number has proven to be
significant enough to stimulate a response.
Moreover, in the Middle East, the rapid increase in the number of Arab internet users could
pose a potential threat to government officials in this sensitive time. “The Arab Knowledge Report 2009 placed the number of Arabic-speaking Internet users at 60 million. Clearly, the region’s vast
potential is recognized by Google, which sponsored its first G-Days conference in Egypt and Jordan,
in December 2010, gathering regional computer scientists, software developers, and technology
entrepreneurs, among others. A Google executive told attendees that 100 million Arabs are expected to
be online by 2015” (Ghannam, 2011, p.4).
1.2 Social Media as a Revolutionary Catalyst:
A key factor that led to the effective involvement of web-based media in the facilitation of
social change in the Arab Spring is the quick and sudden transformation in the Middle Eastern media
landscape. It seems to have developed at such a pace that its power was underestimated by the regimes
that seem to have prepared for conventional methods of activism rather than this modern form that is
cyberactivism. “Prior to 1990, most media ownership in the Arab world lay with governments, and most media functioned under strict governmental supervision and control. A number of authors (Abdel
Rahman, 1985, 2002; Boyd, 1999; Mellor, 2007; Rugh, 2004) argued that in this era Arab media were
effectively participating in political controversies and rational debates” (Khamis & Vaughn, 2011, p.2).
This structure that has been prevalent, followed by a low level of freedom of press in the
Middle East has allowed web based media to flourish as an alternative tool to find the truth, and to
report more freely. In terms of mobilization, this has allowed for the emergence of a community that is
difficult to control due to the rapid exchange of information, and the reach that this information has.
“This complex relationship between increasing Internet accessibility and a complementary increase in suppression of online freedom has led to a culture of subversion, an “emerging cyberworld that knows no physical boundaries,” based on online social networking. With a lack of truly independent and representative media, disenfranchised youths have searched for an alternative method of participation
in the public and political spheres” (Storck, 2011, p.16).
Oftentimes the change that social media has tried to create as a democratizing and mobilizing
tool is overlooked. When critics claim that social media itself as a separate entity did not make a direct
change, they are right. However, it is important to realize that hand-in-hand with plenty of other
variables, social media has become a major catalyst in the revolutions both psychologically, and
technologically, thus making it a tool that indirectly led to the success of these protests.
Social media is not necessarily the cause of these revolutions in the Arab world but have
shown a side and use of social media that has not been seen before until the beginning of 2011 when a
new and effective political role has been discovered. “However, there is empirical evidence that, “the first three months of 2011 saw what can only be termed a substantial shift in the Arab world’s usage of
social media towards online social and civil mobilization.” The advent of social media did not cause
the revolutions of the 2011, but played a crucial facilitating role, by “gathering real time information, by facilitating the weak ties, that is, the physically distant and socially diverse relationship across the
globe.” (Storck, 2011, p.7).
ex-worker led protests over the past decade. “Egypt is plagued with a youth-bulge society, unable to provide jobs and benefits for its disproportionally large young demographic. Analysis has shown that
in Egypt, unemployment is highest amongst university graduates, a group that is growing quickly and
is also the most dependent upon the government for employment” (Assad & Roudi-Fahimi, 2007).
What was making matters worse was Mubarak’s aging regime that had been in power since October
1981 yet it was not adapting to the demographic that was becoming increasingly younger. Before 2008
the mobilization of protesters for a cause came through
customary means and faced many typical limitations.
“Social media introduced speed and interactivity that were lacking in the traditional mobilization techniques,
which generally include the use of leaflets, posters, and
faxes. For instance, social media enabled domestic and
international Egyptian activists to follow events in
Egypt, join social-networking groups, and engage in discussions” (Eltantawi & Wiest, 2011, p. 1213).
The previous attempts for revolution were at a time before social media website Facebook had
the magnitude that it has today, and it was mostly difficult to reach the workers. This all changed in
2008, when 27-year old human resources coordinator Esraa Abdel Fattah, who was given the name
“Facebook Girl,” set up a group on Facebook calling for involvement in the April 6 worker strike that was specified for al-Mahalla al-Kubra in the Nile Delta. “The group grew to over 70,000 members,
10% of Egypt’s active Facebook user population at the time” (Hofheinz, 2011, p. 1419). If at the time Egypt had approximately 700,000 Facebook users, it is assumable that the 4.2 million users in the end
of 2010 would have an even more effective impact considering the complexities of the Facebook
network when looking at the rapid pace at which information circulates the medium. “By the end of 2010, the number of users in the country stood at just 4.2 million. The report indicates that the more
than two fold increase in Facebook users is directly related to the political developments in Egypt”
(Ahram Online, 2012). The protests and movements that were being prepared were in response to the
increase in prices of basic commodities and the decrease in wages caused by inflation.
“By the end of 2010, the number
of users in the country stood at
just 4.2 million. The report
indicates that the more than two
fold increase in Facebook users is
directly related to the political
developments in Egypt.”
The escalation of these protests morphed into various other Facebook groups resulting in the
final April 6Youth Movement which has since played a central role in the 2011 uprising. One of the
sparks to the uprising came two years later when a page was made in memory of Khaled Said who was
a blogger who posted videos and articles about the brutal police violence in Egypt. Said was killed as a
result of doing this, and the Egyptian population vowed not to stand still and the page quickly gained
500,000 members and served as a platform for discussions. Luckily, right around that time the
Tunisian revolution had ended successfully with the ousting of then president Ben Ali. The success of
the revolution seemed to have had an inspirational effect on the Egyptians who started preparing for
the uprising, and thanks to social media being so well-connected, the Tunisians started offering their
advice to the Egyptians on how to tackle their regimes. “According to Ahmed Maher, the civil engineer who led the April 6 worker movement in Egypt, Tunisians sent Egyptians important advice
like, “like use vinegar and onion" — near one's face, for the tear gas — "and how to stop a tank. They sent us this advice, and we used it” (Storck, 2011, p. 22).
“According to Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the 18-day uprising, “protest organizers relied heavily on social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter” to organize this initial protest. On 26 January,
protests became heated as security forces used teargas to dispel demonstrators. The Egyptian
government blocked Facebook in the first act of what would eventually become a full Internet
blockade” (Storck, 2011, p. 23). The recognition of this issue on mainstream media such as Al-Jazeera
and the drastic measures taken by the government indicates that the political leaders swiftly realized
the potential of these media and tried to prevent further damage. “By the 28th, Internet access had
been blocked almost entirely across the country. “Terrified of the new tools of Twitter and Facebook, and the uncensored visual media of yFrog, Flickr and YouTube, the regime chose to pay the price of
millions of lost dollars to the economy in order to deprive protesters of a key weapon- the means of
communication” (Idle & Nunns, 2011, p.59).
However, it seems as though social media simply had to serve as the spark seeing as the
protests had already predicted this response by the Egyptian government. Despite the Internet
blockade, protesters were able to continue organizing demonstrations due to the organizational
infrastructure that had already been established” (Storck, 2011, p.23). On top of that, the internet
seems more easily accessible than Mubarak’s regime thought, one particular activist managed to connect to the internet through alternative means in order to keep sending his messages and updates.
“Although the Internet was disabled for almost five days, some activists still managed to get their message out, again with the aid of social media. Within Egypt, efforts included the following post by a
blogger who published instructions for using a dial-up connection for Internet access” (Eltantawi &
Wiest, 2011, p. 1216).
Additionally, if it was not for the influence of social media in the matter the outreach to the
rest of the population and to the rest of the world through mass media and mass communications
would not have been the same. All of these aforementioned dynamics fuel the population and
empower the citizens to make a change and to fight for a cause. Via various online communities
throughout the world the events unfolding in Egypt were followed and the population gained great
compassion and support from every angle. It is possible that these factors combined disseminate a
great deal of motivation for this activism to continue and for the Egyptian population to remain
mobilized.
Without the help of social media the setting up of the revolution could have been significantly
less effective. There are obvious advantages to the influence that social media had on the mobilization
of citizens that outweigh its disadvantages that barely seem to go beyond the simple fact that the
internet can be controlled easily. Even the internet blockage was surpassed in different ways, whereas
the traces of the revolution were still online, and the population mobilized.
The use of the internet has provided the nations a tool that assists with the democratization
process, and if not a democratic tool it was a tool for political change. Perhaps it did not directly add
something to the previous conventional methods of revolting but it certainly added an allure of
world and the quick transmission of information has connected citizens of different revolting countries
together in a big advice-sharing network. User generated content such as Omar Afifi’s instructional
YouTube videos, or forums connecting the Tunisian protesters to the Egyptian ones advising them on
how to revolt and how to be prepared have all strengthened the protests and yielded effective results.
After establishing the initial “spark” through social media, traditional methods take over such as the use of flyers and spreading the details by word of mouth. “For example, in Cairo, activists planning the demonstrations spread the word via taxi drivers, infamous in Egyptian society for their
talkative nature” (Storck, 2011, p.26). Critics of the influence of social media in the Arab Spring have
claims that the revolution in Egypt was not a “Facebook revolution” or anything of that sort, yet that could be a short-sighted way of seeing the matter at hand. Perhaps the effect was not as strong as
claimed, or a direct achievement of social media as a separate entity, yet it is more the fact that the
conventional methods of activism and this modern form of cyberactivism go hand-in-hand and
complete each other. It does not seem like the modern methods will take over the conventional
methods of initiating protest seeing as one needs the other in order to be carried out most effectively.
Comparing the time it took for the revolutions to take place some numbers stand out, in Libya,
the revolution took approximately 9 months, the Tunisian revolution took 28 days and the latest
Egyptian revolution only took 18 days. “Egyptian activists were able to successfully play off the strengths of the social networking capabilities of Facebook and Twitter by capitalizing on their “many-to-many” communication capabilities and the speed with which information can be transferred and
spread, an inherent characteristic to any digital media” (Storck, 2011, p.25). The difference between
the revolutions was the rate of reliance on social media, and the adequate use of it. Even though social
media played a big role in setting up the protests it was still regular communication (by word of mouth
for example) that led to the escalation, but the catalyzing powers of these types of media were just
what the activists needed to consider the internet revolution “successful”, it was a small change in the methods of protest that yielded colossal results. “Once individuals found out that other people would
protest or activity becomes self-reinforcing, and increases without further direct organization or action
by the leadership.”” (Storck, 2011, p.26).
In his article Social Media and its Effectiveness in the Political Reform Movement in Egypt
Serajul Bhuiyan concludes with a fair statement that “Perhaps social media was not absolutely critical to the uprising in Egypt; however, it made protest possible sooner, and helped it develop in a way that
would have been impossible without social media” (Bhuiyan, 2011, p. 18). This statement in itself
already claims that social media acted as a fair catalyst in the sparking of the revolutions. Bhuiyan
continues with the statement “Looking at the impact of Facebook here in America, I see that people
ask for a Facebook profile instead of a telephone number; they chat online instead of talking on the
phone; emailing has started to decline compared to increasing use of social media and blogging.
Around the world social media has opened new possibilities for communication and social change”
(Bhuiyan, 2011, p. 18). Social media is simply becoming a natural commodity in our lives that many
rely on daily if they wish to remain up-to-date.
1.3 Politics and Media:
The nature of politics in the Middle East is quite complex and tough to grasp, especially to the
western world, and that all plays a role in the developments that occurred in the realm of media as a
democratizing tool during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Various socio-cultural, religious,
and traditional ideals play a role. These differences between the Middle East and the west run deep
and are complex meaning that the matter of the “internet revolution” cannot be simplified to the extent that it has been by western media. Active internet users who express their critique of the government
openly often meet unjust fates in many Middle Eastern countries even today. In Syria, 19-year-old Tal
al-Mallouhi was possibly the youngest “Internet prisoner” in the region. In December 2010 she
completed the first year of her sentence in prison; the reason was poetically blogging about her
release of blogger Ali Abdulemam who has been imprisoned for allegedly posting “false news” on his popular site BahrainOnline.org. They are just three of the scores of Arab Internet users across the
region who have faced arrest and incarceration and other repercussions stemming from their online
writings” (Ghannam, 2011, p. 5).
Activism has been around for a very long time, and the addition of the internet in this field
could have acted as a catalyst, but the fact that these online activist groups are controlled by a
hierarchy which is typically smaller than that of a traditional activist group it makes them easier to
control by the governments. Jeffrey Ghannam claims that “The advances are not without considerable
limitations and challenges posed by authoritarian regimes. Arab governments’ reactions to social
media have given rise to a battle of the blogosphere as proxies or other means are used to bypass
government firewalls only to have those efforts meet further government blocking. Government
authorities in the region also have waged widespread crackdowns on bloggers, journalists, civil
society, and human rights activists” (Ghannam, 2011, p.4). This shows that despite the fact that it
seems easy to control these “online activists” they still manage to get their way through other means. He brings to the table the example of Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer who was released from prison in
November 2010 after more than four years where he was allegedly tortured simply as a result of “his writings that authorities said insulted Islam and defamed Mubarak” (Ghannam, 2011, p.5). Which
shows that on that side of the world matters are handled differently and the assumptions that are made
about the power of social media and blogging as a new form of revolt might be an overstatement.
Despite its effectiveness so far, the internet is still a medium that can be controlled easily. “In
the Middle East, authoritarian regimes, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are
controlling the political and social impact of the Internet through ambitious censorship schemes”
On the other hand, it is easy to say that the internet can be controlled easily by (authoritarian)
regimes seeing as it is the way they dealt with internet activists and bloggers that has led to some sort
of spark to the revolutions in the first place. The fact that it is being mentioned extensively also proves
that it has been effective in some way or another. But what are the differences between activism on the
internet and other conventional forms of activism? And why was this internet activism effective in the
events leading up to the Arab Spring? “According to the 2011 Arab Social Media Report, 94% of Tunisians get their news from social media tools, as do 88% of Egyptians. “Both countries also relied
the least on state-sponsored media for their information (at 40% and 36% of people in Tunisia and
Egypt respectively).” Equally noteworthy, in Egypt there are now more users of Facebook than there are subscribers to newspapers. In addition to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, personal blogs have
been used as an insider perspective to the ongoing revolutions” (Storck, 2011, p.6).
Even though the government arranged for an internet blockade as has been mentioned
previously, the block was still surpassed by the
citizens who were eager to report. This information
and those tweets all made it to mainstream media
organizations locally and internationally. “When these emergent, hybrid news ecosystems are
analyzed, it is often unclear how networked information actors influence each other, who they look to
as authorities, what kind of diversity exists among them, how professionals insert themselves into such
networks, and how professionals use social media tools and sources in their own reporting” (Lotan et
al, 2011, p. 5). Examples like this show that the increasingly youthful demographic of Egypt is able to
counter the ageing authoritarian regimes with a heightened sense of technological awareness.
The success of social media was not seen as strongly in Tunisia as it was in Egypt, but it was
the support that was given by the Tunisians and the advice from the Tunisians to the Egyptians that
fueled the Tahrir Square protests. And perhaps every revolution will learn from the previous one and
be even more effective. “Since Tunisia's protests initiated the wave of unrest in the Arab world, they
“Despite its effectiveness so far,
the internet is still a medium that
can be controlled easily”
were more spontaneous and less well organized than subsequent campaigns in other nations”
(Anderson, 2011, p. 3). Perchance the use of social media as a motivator for protest can be foreseen
more easily now, and perhaps the political agendas pay more attention to it now, but the ruling elites
will certainly have to keep up-to-date with the developments in new media technologies seeing as the
technology is developing at a rapid pace such that new methods will be difficult to keep up with.
Another element that has helped the internet to flourish as a major player in social
mobilization in the Middle Easters authoritarian countries nowadays is the aging regime that lacks the
ability to keep up with these rapid technological advances, and a youthful demographic that is
becoming increasingly knowledgeable and up-to-date about these technologies. “The Internet is also a
rapidly growing and expanding medium, especially among young people. Recent research studies
indicate that Internet use is increasingly more prevalent among younger age groups within the Arab
world, especially the 20 to 30 year old age group, which uses the net more avidly compared to the rest
of the population (Abdulla, 2007, p.50). This can very well explain why and how new media were
effectively deployed by young people in the Arab world to trigger political reform” (Khamis &
Vaughn, 2011, p.4).
1.4 The World as a Networked Community:
As has been pointed out so far, in social media lays power, and a lot of it has to do with its
ability to connect the world and the people of the world together in the simplest of ways. Although
these means are simple, the potential that it has can be tremendous in innumerable ways if used for
that purpose. In a networked global village created by the complex nature of the internet and especially
social media websites it is a matter of the west and the large mainstream media corporations in the
west being well connected with the rest of the world including Egypt. “The speed and transparency of
information have increased dramatically. Events that only a few years ago could have remained state
secrets indefinitely are being reported around the world in minutes. The traditional roles of the media
Evidently the availability of open-source information to the public in this amount is altering the sphere
of communication.
Social media was used to spread useful information across the globe to Egypt, as is the case
with former police officer turned activist Omar Afifi, who wrote a book about how to avoid police
brutality, this book was banned and his life was threatened by the regime after which he fled to the
United States. This intolerance and lack of freedom imposed by the regime has proven dangerous
seeing as Afifi, now in his safe-haven began posting YouTube videos dispensing advice on how to
create revolution (peacefully) practically firing the first shot of the revolution. “Afifi then took advantage of social media technologies in his continued effort to advise Egyptians, this time through
YouTube videos, Facebook, and Twitter. When the Tunisian revolts took place, Afifi released a series
of detailed YouTube videos instructing Egyptians on techniques for conducting their own revolution.
Afifi provided numerous details and specified the exact day to revolt, where protesters should gather,
and what they should wear. Most importantly, Afifi’s instructional videos emphasized the idea of peaceful protest (Afifi, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c)” (Eltantawi & Wiest, 2011, p. 1213).
It seems like it is not one country revolting anymore, but the citizens of every country in the
world uniting for a cause, and for what is right by giving each other productive support. It does not
matter where one is in the world, they can have an input that can be deemed useful and thus an impact
can be made even if that person lives miles away from the actual protests. “The significance of the introduction of the Internet stems from the fact that it defies boundaries, challenges governmental
media censorship, and provides an alternative voice to traditional media outlets, which echo official,
governmental policies and views. In other words, it enables the in-flow and out-flow of information
simultaneously through a “virtually defined …emerging cyberworld that knows no physical
Conclusion 1:
Social media has not been the sole tool that has made it successful when it comes to the
mobilization of citizens for a certain cause. There seems to be a misconception when claims are made
that social media directly led to the success of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. Social media
complemented preexisting tools, and added a new technology that has shown that it certainly can make
revolutions more effective. For one, it seems as though internet access, that being the amount of
people who have internet access, is not essential for the success of “online revolutions”. As we saw in
Egypt, the larger segment of the population did not have internet access or a social media account
prior to the start of the Egyptian uprising. Yet those who did added social media to the already existing
revolutionary tools (which the majority of the population already has access to) in order to inflict a
significantly large amount of damage.
Additionally, the internet’s interconnectivity with the rest of the world also proved to be crucial. The many years of political oppression that most Middle Eastern countries have faced with
their authoritarian regimes so far have already prepared them enough for revolt. Another feature that
made it tougher for the ruling regimes to tackle the revolution was the insecurity of what the
revolution was exactly about. Plenty of diverse factors angered the population, factors which fall under
different categories such as culture, religion, economy …etc. It was difficult to see whether different groups were revolting for a different cause or whether the revolution was a result of collective anger of
a collective assemblage of problems. The only thing missing was the last straw, the tipping point. That
interconnectivity with the globe has shown the rest of the world what injustice was being done.
Information spread so quickly that raw information would reach a global network at an unforeseen
rate, this involved everybody. An increased amount of internet users in the country throughout the
revolution also proved how crucial social media was in the democratization process in the Middle East
Finally, the technological awareness of an ever increasing youthful demographic as opposed to
which the Egyptian military carried out a nationwide internet blockade which was rather simply
surpassed by the citizens; this also showed the fear that the governments had of social media. Perhaps
it can be said that the revolution in the way in which it happened was not intended to go this far and be
as successful as it turned out to be, and perhaps the chain reaction of events was not forecast by the
social media users who so eloquently attempted to organize demonstrations, but the impact was
undoubtedly well-felt.
CHAPTER II - Citizen Journalism and the Media Landscape
The term citizen journalism speaks for itself, as it is the form of journalism where the
reporting and writing is done by non-professionals or “regular people” in a wide networked
community (normally connected online). The term citizen journalism is described in the Oxford
dictionary as “The collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet”. Scholar Axel Bruns wrote an interesting detailed analysis
of citizen journalism and compares it first-hand with professional (traditional) journalism and
mainstream media. He highlights the complications both fields face, the competition and also the areas
of cooperation possible in order to alter the framework of journalism as a whole. Bruns even starts
chapter 8 of his publication titled News Produsage in a Pro-Am Mediasphere: Why Citizen Journalism
Matters with the statement “The rise to prominence of citizen journalism is usually described as a
paradigm shift in the relationship between news organizations and their audiences – ‘citizen’ or
‘amateur’ journalists are positioned as inherently different from, and possibly in competition with, ‘professional’ journalists” (Bruns, 2010, p. 1).
So far the focus of this research has been on the use and effect of social media in the Arab
Spring and its use as a democratically mobilizing tool. Citizen journalism, which could be seen as
with democracy) has been used in the Arab Spring as well, it is therefore interesting to examine. But
why is citizen journalism so important in revolutions nowadays?
Both forms of journalism (professional journalism and citizen journalism) have their pros and
cons. And all the themes that come back mainly involve the complex relationship that traditional
journalism has with citizen journalism, whether they are in competition or not, the relationship of
citizen journalism with mass media, as well as the main issue that there is with citizen journalism, and
that is the accuracy of its sources. This chapter will discuss the issues that exist when it comes to
journalism at a time of revolt, and the influence that citizens have on their mass media providers.
Ultimately finding out in which ways the revolution has altered the media sphere in the Middle East at
times of protests and revolutions.
In order to examine the use and effectiveness of citizen journalism as opposed to traditional
journalism (and mainstream media) in the Arab Spring, both forms will have to be compared. For this,
Axel Bruns wrote a detailed comparative paper on the differences between citizen journalism and
traditional journalism titled News Produsage in a Pro-Am Mediasphere: Why Citizen Journalism
Matters, which will be used primarily as a guideline for this chapter.
2.0 Traditional Journalism vs Citizen Journalism:
As the term citizen journalism implies, it is a form of journalism provided by regular citizens
as opposed to journalistic professionals. This does not mean that they report in a different way per se,
or that the quality of their work has to be reduced significantly. The framework of citizen journalism is
simply different than that of traditional journalism which brings me to suggest that both forms should
perhaps not be placed in the same “professional category” nor to be viewed as two opposing entities, which is the standpoint that Bruns takes in his article. “Stories of conflict between ‘citizens’ and
fact that mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides is possible, and beginning to take
place, and keep us from exploring those opportunities” (Bruns, 2010, p.1).
Where traditional journalism usually involved trained professionals who belong to institutions
of their own with their own interests, citizen journalism is a new form that typically does not belong to
a controlling entity but is run by an engaging audience which was formerly more static. The appealing
aspect of citizen journalism possibly has to do with its seemingly objective cover-up, where the
masses trust what the masses have to bring to the table. It seems as though gatekeeping (the process of
controlling the content that makes it into the news based on its quality and accuracy / trustworthiness)
in mainstream media has become so complex and layered to the point that it loses some of its
reliability towards its audience. The information flows through so many channels and opinionated
superiors that the assumption is there that the news becomes opinionated. Yet, “News sources are a
critical element in the practice of journalism as it shapes from whom journalists get their information
and what type of information they obtain” (Carlson, 2009; Gans, 1979; Sigal, 1986).
Social media plays a great role in the growth of citizen journalism into the size that it has
today, mainly because it is a tool for the masses where a quick exchange of information in many forms
is possible, and people can easily share content rapidly with one another. “Studies on journalistic
practices have highlighted key challenges in news routines, including a limited diversity of news
sources and a reliance on those with institutional power, such as government officials, police officers
or business leaders. The open nature of social media technologies could, in theory, foster greater
pluralism in media discourse by providing channels for a greater number and diversity of news
sources” (Hermida et al. 2013, p. 2). This less moderated form of information exchange has provided
an even quicker means to obtain live news and possible posts by first-hand witnesses who the social
media users trust (seeing as the majority of posts are made by friends). Hence the illusion of minimal
third party involvement in the process of gatekeeping is created. There is often a misapprehension,
with each other. Each one of the forms has its limitations and benefits and it is therefore most
expedient for them to not be seen as two competing entities.
2.1 Citizen Journalism Introduced:
When comparing the two variants of journalism limitations and critiques remain first and
foremost regarding the style of reporting of citizen journalism itself, and the selection process of
stories itself poses problems as well, and this is mainly critiqued by professional journalists. One of
the claims states that “by and large, individual participants in citizen journalism sites and projects commit only what JD Lasica has described as ‘random acts of journalism’ (2003): contributing news
and commentary only occasionally and on selected topics rather than achieving a comprehensive
coverage of the news; similarly, most citizen journalism websites focus only on specific news beats, or
cover the news from particular ideological perspectives” (Bruns, 2010, p. 2).
Numerous sources agree that citizen journalism often misses the point of reporting, and that
news can oftentimes not be simplified to the way it is simplified in many citizen journalist sources.
Instead of providing adequate information which can later be used to open debates and to find out the
truth, citizen journalism “focusses mainly on providing opinion, commentary, and evaluation of current events, rather than reporting these events first-hand” (Bruns 2006, Singer 2006).
Although traditional journalism can feature comment sections on their online publications, and
a possibility for feedback from the audience to the journalists, journalists still tend to be skeptical
about the input of non-professionals seeing as they do not follow the specific “formula” that is
considered professional. “Although there are certainly more ways for people to participate in or comment on online news—and ways of commodifying and deriving revenue from readers who
participate (Alexander, 2010; Vujnovic et al., 2010)—journalists tend to be deeply skeptical about
displace their professionally produced work and result in degraded overall news environments
(Hermida & Thurman, 2008)” (Lotan et al, 2011, p.4).
By looking at the prominence of citizen journalism nowadays, especially considering the
involvement of mass media in the matter on a global scale, the governments that were once closed off
and distant from the public are now forced into transparency with credit to social media. The pressure
is currently on them to provide answers and explanations for their actions. Marc Lynch underlines a
few basic ways in which this opening up of the regimes started in the simplest of ways. “Activists like Tunisia's Sami Ben Gharbia used Internet tools to reveal the Tunisian first lady's shopping trips to
Paris on the president's private jet. Bahrainis used Google Earth to reveal the shocking size of lands
expropriated by the royal family for private use. Egyptians like blogger Wael Abbas circulated videos
of police abuse and identified individual officers online. This opening of closed regimes to raw
information and opinion, a faith in the power of public ideas, was itself one of the key ideas
underpinning the Arab uprisings” (Lynch, 2011, p.4). It is again the availability of simple tools to the
general public which allowed them to publish these items to a large networked audience around the
world, forcing answers and reactions from their ruling leaders as there was nothing to hide anymore.
As we see, in Bahrain something as simple as Google Earth was used, satellite images which were
never before available to the public are now simple to obtain.
2.2 Citizen Journalism and Mass Media:
Citizen journalism is a new phenomenon that is coming up and playing its own specific role in
world politics and in the realm of media nowadays. However, there are too many limitations to citizen
journalism which pull back its ability to bring out objective news to a worldwide audience, and it is
therefore that mass media is still needed; mass media needs to complement this form of journalism.
The Arab Spring was a crucial time for media outlets around the world. It marked a series of
changes because for the first time, there was a significant amount of emphasis on new media and
digital media. It in fact showed that the audience is not ignorant anymore and that the lack of
objectivity was becoming a serious issue for the rest of the world following the issues in the Middle
East. “The shift from an era of broadcast mass media to one of networked digital media has altered both information flows and the nature of news work. Mainstream media (MSM) outlets have adopted
Twitter as a means of engaging with and enlarging audiences, strengthening their reach and influence
while also changing how they rely on and republish sources” (Lotan et al, 2011, p.2).
In an investigation towards the information flows during the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising,
Gilad Lotan explains that “Mainstream media (MSM) outlets have adopted Twitter as a means of engaging with and enlarging audiences, strengthening their reach and influence while also changing
how they rely on and republish sources. During unplanned or critical world events such as the
Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, MSM turn to Twitter, both to learn from on-the-ground sources, and
to rapidly distribute updates” (Lotan et al, 2011, p. 1). It was obvious that people reporting live
through Twitter meant that the updates were very much “real-time” and raw, giving it an honest feel. Especially in places where events have unfolded very recently, Twitter can serve as a valid source that
gives the mainstream media outlets an idea of where to send their crew and what to keep an eye out
for. It is sort of a predictor and can be used to widen the audience.
Studies on the use of Twitter during the unfolding of events show that mainstream media
organizations tend to incorporate Twitter as a main source of information at times when a professional
crew is not yet present on the ground. An example of such is given during the Haiti earthquake.
“Bruno found a significant reliance of social media content by the BBC, The Guardian and CNN in the first 24 hours of the natural disaster. But the use of social media content fell dramatically once the
BBC and CNN had their own teams in Haiti. Bruno concluded that only “The Guardian seems to have
embraced an editorial policy more open and consistent with regard to the diversity of online voices””
There is confusion about what exactly the “Twitter revolutions” and “Facebook revolutions” added to the Arab Spring and the uprising of the Arab people, there are often conflicting interests but
the revolutions did not only do one thing, they united the people in a form of democratization. “Some see a great Islamic Awakening, while others argue for an emerging cosmopolitan, secular, democratic
generation of engaged citizens. For prominent liberals such as Egypt's Amr Hamzawy, these really
have been revolutions for democracy. But whatever the ultimate goal, most would agree with Syrian
intellectual Burhan Ghalyoun, who eloquently argued in March that the Arab world was witnessing
"an awakening of the people who have been crushed by despotic regimes" (Lynch, 2011, p.1). So what
role did social media play in the Arab Spring? What effects did it have on the situation and on
journalism? And Finally, was there a significant amount of cooperation between citizen journalism
and mainstream media, creating a hybrid form of reporting?
The success of social media and citizen journalism is not as simple as it seems. It stems back
from the narratives and styles of reporting that has been going on for decades in mainstream media
and news outlets, which plays a fundamental role in the mobilization and engagement of the people.
The influence of media and the news in the Middle East is a unique case. “A decade-long, media-fueled narrative of change is why Arabs immediately recognized each national protest as part of their
own struggle. As Wadah Khanfar, the network's recently departed director-general, put it, "That was
Al Jazeera's role: liberating the Arab mind. We created the idea in the Arab mind that when you have a
right, you should fight for it"” (Lynch, 2011, p. 2). Therefore, the introduction of Twitter and
Facebook to the revolutions did not add any new ideas or create a change in the mentality of the
people in particular, those ideas were already pre-existent, yet these forms of media provided a new
and more effective ways of carrying out changes and in shaping the revolution.
Seemingly one of the turning points for the revolutions was the introduction of Facebook in
Arabic, which removed the language barrier that faces the large non-English speaking parts of the
population. This made this social media tool and all its features potentially available to the entire
content online increased, with multiple campaigns by citizen journalists and online activists exposing
poverty, corruption, and human rights abuses, including torture. However, until the Tunisian uprising,
physical protests in Egypt remained fairly small and the regime appeared to be firmly in control”
(Tufekci & Wilson, 2012, p.2).
The problem that mass media faces in the Middle East is the great deal of governmental control
that is posed on mass media outlets, despite the fact that information flows nowadays can often start
with social media and transfer to mass media,, mass media in many Middle Eastern countries with
Authoritarian regimes are still controlled by the governments, giving the freedom of press a big step
backwards. The voice that is given to citizens is very limited and mass communication is driven by
various different subjective motives as the media outlets follow the wants of the ruling regimes.
“Information flow and accessibility under these authoritarian regimes is tightly restricted: Broadcast media tend to be controlled by the government, journalists face restrictions, and censorship, and
communication between citizens is often subject to surveillance and repression” (Tufekci & Wilson,
2012, p. 4).It is therefore a unique phenomenon that the masses finally got a chance to make their
voice heard, and in a way take control of the media, at least in their communication towards the rest of
the world. People finally got the chance to speak up and they were persistent on letting their voice out.
Perhaps the issue is not merely an issue of social media becoming readily available; it is also a
technological and economic issue in the sense that the tools such as cell phones with internet
connection, video, and photo functions have become cheaper and are not as much of a luxury anymore
as they once were. The fact that these tools became readily available have led to the public being able
to report on and record whatever is happening at a given time from any location making citizen
journalism easy. “The third component of the new system of political communication is the dramatic increase in citizen access created by the explosion of steadily less expensive cellphones with video,
photo, and Internet capability. By late 2010, cell phone penetration had reached 80% in Egypt overall
considers that the 2010 figures represented a 24% increase over the previous year. More and more of
these cellphones were Internet-capable as well” (Tufekci & Wilson, 2012, p. 5).
All these factors combined have led mainstream mass media organizations, and influential
media organizations to recognize the power of citizens in journalism. Therefore Al-Jazeera did not
wait long before they started integrating what citizens are reporting into their own news broadcasts.
“Al-Jazeera, for example, has integrated social media into its news practices and cultivated citizen journalists across the region. It cannot have a journalist in every trouble spot, but the increasing
numbers of smart-phone wielding citizens who have developed both the reflex and the ability to
document politically important moments ensure that there will be at least some coverage, regardless of
the logistics of the situation. Citizen journalists record events and distribute multimedia content
through Facebook and Twitter, content which is then rebroadcast through Al-Jazeera and distributed to
other media” (Tufekci & Wilson, 2012, p. 5).
There are drawbacks though, for one, Al-Jazeera has lost plenty of credibility simply because
they are accused of serving the interests of certain political parties. This even led to a bunch of their
journalists quitting their jobs in protest seeing as they accused Al-Jazeera of biased coverage and
airing the wrong footage, especially in a scandal where images and clips that they claimed originated
from Syria, was in fact old footage from Iraq. The Headline on The Clarion Project read “Al Jazeera
Journalists Quit Over Network's Biased Coverage”. It carried on stating that News anchor Karem
Mahmoud of Al Jazeera’s Mubasher Misr was quoted as saying, “There are instructions to us to telecast certain news.” Mahmoud further accused the coverage provided by the Qatari channel as lacking in professionalism, saying, “The management in Doha [Qatar] provokes sedition among the Egyptian people and has an agenda against Egypt and other Arab countries”. In order to save their
image, it seems as though Al-Jazeera started to intentionally include more and more alternative voices
in their reporting through social media to still stamp their reputation as “the Arabic people’s station”. By looking at the prominence of citizen journalism nowadays, especially considering the
and distant from the public are now forced into transparency. The pressure is currently on them to
provide answers and explanations for their actions. Marc Lynch underlines a few basic ways in which
this opening up of the regimes started in the simplest of ways. “Activists like Tunisia's Sami Ben Gharbia used Internet tools to reveal the Tunisian first lady's shopping trips to Paris on the president's
private jet. Bahrainis used Google Earth to reveal the shocking size of lands expropriated by the royal
family for private use. Egyptians like blogger Wael Abbas circulated videos of police abuse and
identified individual officers online. This opening of closed regimes to raw information and opinion, a
faith in the power of public ideas, was itself one of the key ideas underpinning the Arab uprisings”
(Lynch, 2011, p.4).
Another way in which citizen journalism can provide support to traditional journalism is
providing reporters to certain areas of the world. “Although it is true that there is a greater amount of
first-hand research and reporting in professional journalism, it must also be acknowledged that in
reality, the (technological, financial, staff) resources available for such reporting are strictly limited,
and unevenly distributed both within and across news organizations (there exists what Shirky (1999)
has described as a ‘resource horizon’, beyond which professional work is no longer feasible)” (Bruns, 2010, p. 5). In the areas where the staff and/or resources are lacking, the focus will be placed on
citizen journalistic ones to still manage to obtain some news beats at least.
Hermida mentions such a case in his article where he gives the example of the Haiti
earthquake and its coverage by various news outlets in a case where at the first phases immediately
after the earthquake occurred before the reporters were brought into play, most news outlets used
social media and citizen journalists to their advantage as the main source of information. “Bruno’s
study of the coverage of three major news outlets of the 2010 Haiti earthquake suggests an
opportunistic model at play, rather than a desire to represent a broad spectrum of voices. Bruno found
a significant reliance of social media content by the BBC, The Guardian and CNN in the first 24 hours
of the natural disaster. But the use of social media content fell dramatically once the BBC and CNN
